Preseason matchups: vs. Broncos, at Chiefs, vs. Vikings, at Chargers

After opening the exhibition season at home against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, the 49ers will head to Kansas City for a reunion with Alex Smith, whom they traded to the Chiefs last month.

The 49ers’s exhibition schedule fills out with an Aug. 25 home game against the Minnesota Vikings (5 p.m., NBC), then an Aug. 29 visit to the San Diego Chargers, the 49ers’ exhibition-finale partner since 2002.

Manning and Smith should provide a decent test out the gate for a 49ers defense that’s still undergoing personnel turnover since the Super Bowl.

Manning shredded the 49ers in last year’s exhibition meeting, going 10-of-12 for 122 yards with two touchdowns. Smith certainly knows the 49ers’ nuances, having finished his eight-season tenure with them by serving as a scout-team quarterback in Super Bowl preparations.

Smith’s matchup with the 49ers will come in his Arrowhead Stadium debut. The Chiefs’ exhibition opener will take place in New Orleans, site of Smith’s final game in a 49ers uniform (Super Bowl XLVII).

The 49ers’ exhibition opener will be held between Aug. 8-11 at Candlestick Park, the 49ers’ home for a final season before they move to a new Santa Clara stadium. That opener will have a tough time matching last year’s debut outing, when then-backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick ran 78 yards for a touchdown on a read-option beauty.

The 49ers will not face any of those four teams in the regular season, and that schedule is expected to be unveiled April 16.

This marks the fifth time in the past nine years that the 49ers will face the Broncos in the exhibition season. The 49ers and Chiefs last met in the exhibition season in 2003. It’s the third time in the past four exhibition seasons the 49ers and Vikings will meet.

The Chargers are on the 49ers’ exhibition schedule for a 27th consecutive year, and the 49ers lead the all-time preseason series 21-20.

This will be Kaepernick’s first exhibition season as the 49ers’ starter. He completed 64.1 percent of his passes (25 of 39, 297 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions) as Smith’s backup last exhibition.

Scott Tolzien, the 49ers’ No. 3 quarterback the past two seasons, also will get his first chance back on the field since last exhibition season. Tolzien will be battling newcomer Colt McCoy — and likely a to-be-determined rookie — to serve as Kaepernick’s top backup. Tolzien completed 10 of his first 12 passes before throwing an interception in last year’s exhibition-opening win over the Minnesota Vikings.

The 49ers went 3-1 last exhibition season. They went on to post an 11-4-1 regular-season record en route to Super Bowl XLVII, where they fell 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens.